Writing to the Sainthood Nichimyo. 日妙聖人御書

Letter to Saint Nichimyō

Original Text.

■Date of writing: May 25, 1272, at the 51st year of his age.

■Place of writing: At the residence of Ichinosawa Nyudo, Ichinosawa, Sado Island.

■Nichimyo, a single laywoman in Kamakura, who visited Daishonin in exile on Sado Island with her young daughter Oto. This writing was given to Nichimyo in honor of her strong seeking spirit. In this book, Daishonin bestows upon Nichimyo the title of saint for her persistent devotion to him, even as Daishonin was exiled to Sado Island and many members of the Kamakura congregation were forced to leave the faith. In this writing, Daishonin also encourages Nichimyo to further her faith in the Lotus Sutra by quoting the Expedient Means chapter, the second section of the Lotus Sutra, "Making all persons equal to me without any difference between us", which states that those who have a clear understanding of the Lotus Sutra are equal to the Buddha.

■The autographs are in the collection of Honjoji Temple in Shizuoka and five other places.

[Letter to Saint Nichimyō. Text]

Once there was an ascetic named Gyobo-Bonji. For twelve years, he traveled from country to country in search of the teachings of a Tathagata. During that time, none of the three treasures—the Buddha, the Law, and the monk—were to be found. Nevertheless, the ascetic continued his quest for Buddhism as desperately as one who is thirsty seeks water, or as a starving person looks for food. One day a Baramon came to him and said, “I possess a verse of the sacred teaching. If you are a true seeker of Buddhism, I will impart it to you.” The ascetic beseeches him. The Baramon then said: “To prove your sincerity, first peel off your skin for parchment, break off one of your bones for a writing brush, grind up its marrow for ink, and draw your blood as water. If you are willing to do all these things and thus write down this teaching, I will teach you the Buddha’s verse.”

The ascetic was overjoyed. He peeled off his skin, dried it, and made parchment from it. He then did all the other things demanded of him, just as he had been told. When he had finished, the Baramon suddenly vanished. The ascetic bewailed his fate, now gazing up to the heavens, now flinging himself to the ground. The Buddha, sensing his sincerity, emerged from beneath the earth and taught him as follows: “Practice what accords with the Buddha Law; do not practice what contradicts it. One who practices the Buddha Law will dwell in peace and security both in this life and in the next.” The moment the ascetic heard this, he became a Buddha. This teaching consists of twenty Chinese characters.

Once in a previous existence when Shakyamuni was a Wheel-turning King engaged in bodhisattva practice, he revered an eight-character phrase that stated: “One who is born is destined to die. To extinguish this cycle is to enter the joy of nirvana.” As an offering to these eight characters, he gave his own body to fuel a thousand lanterns. Moreover, he urged others to inscribe those characters on stone walls and main roads so that people who read them would arouse the aspiration for enlightenment. The light of those lanterns reached as high as the heaven of the thirty-three gods, where it served as illumination for Teishaku and the other heavenly deities.

In another past existence Shakyamuni was carrying out bodhisattva austerities in search of Buddhism. One day a leper said to him, “I possess the correct teaching, which consists of twenty characters. If you will massage my leprous body, embrace, and lick it, feeding me with two or three pounds of your own flesh every day, I will impart you with the teaching.” Shakyamuni did exactly as the leper said. As a result, he obtained the twenty-character teaching and attained Buddhahood. This was that “The Tathagata is enlightened to the truth of nirvana, and has forever freed himself from the sufferings of birth and death. Anyone who wholeheartedly listens to him will surely obtain immeasurable joy.”

There was once a boy called Snow Mountains who lived in the Snow Mountains. Although he had mastered all non-Buddhist teachings, he had not yet encountered Buddhism. Then, one day, he happened to hear a terrifying demon recite a verse that began: “All is changeable, nothing is constant. This is the law of birth and death.” The demon, however, spoke only the first eight characters of the verse, leaving the rest unsaid. Although the boy was exceedingly glad to have heard the first eight characters, he felt as though he had been given only half a wish-granting jewel. It was like a plant that flowers but bears no fruit. When the boy asked for the remaining eight characters, the demon replied, “I have had nothing to eat for several days. I am too dazed with hunger to preach the remaining eight characters. First give me some food.” The boy asked, “What do you eat?” The demon answered, “I feed on the warm flesh and blood of human beings. Though I can fly anywhere throughout the four continents in the space of a moment, I can obtain no warm flesh and blood. Human beings are protected by the heavenly gods, so I cannot kill them unless they commit evil.”

The boy Snow Mountains said, “I will make you an offering of my own body, so teach me the remaining eight characters so that I will convey that doctrine.” The demon said, “You are a cunning fellow, aren’t you? Surely you are trying to deceive me.” The boy replied, “If one is offered gold and silver in exchange for shards and rubble, should one not accept it? If I die to no purpose on this mountain, then my body will be devoured by horned owls, owls, wolves, and tigers, and will bring me no merit whatsoever. On the other hand, if I give my life for the remaining eight characters, it will be like exchanging dung for food.”

The demon was still suspicious. The boy assured him, “There are those who will vouch for my honesty. Like the Buddhas of ages past, I call upon the great heavenly king Bonten, the heavenly lord Teishaku, the gods of the sun and moon, and the four heavenly kings to be my witnesses.” Finally, the demon consented to impart the second half of the verse. The boy removed his deerskin garment and spread it out for the demon to sit upon. Then he knelt down and joined his palms together in supplication, begging the demon to be seated. The fierce demon complied and preached and chanted, “Extinguishing the cycle of birth and death, one enters the joy of nirvana.” When the boy had learned the entire verse, he inscribed it on trees and stones. This completed, he cast himself into the demon’s mouth. The boy Snow Mountains was actually Shakyamuni in one of his past existences, while the demon was Teishaku in disguise.

Bodhisattva Medicine King burned his elbows and lit for seventy-two thousand years as an offering to the Lotus Sutra. Bodhisattva Fukyo was for many years cursed and humiliated, beaten with sticks and staves, and pelted with tiles and stones by countless monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen because he venerated them by uttering the twenty-four characters that read: “I have profound reverence for you, I would never dare treat you with disparagement or arrogance. Why? Because you will all practice the bodhisattva way and will then be able to attain buddhahood.” Bodhisattva Fukyo was Shakyamuni Buddha in one of his past lifetimes.

King Suzudan performed menial labor in the service of the Hermit Asita for a thousand years in order to receive the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo. He even went so far as to make a bed of his own body for his master. As a result, he was reborn as Shakyamuni Buddha.

The Lotus Sutra of the Marvelous Law consists of eight volumes. Reading these eight volumes is in effect equal to reading sixteen, for the sutra was preached by Shakyamuni Buddha and Taho Buddha. The sixteen volumes, in turn, represent innumerable volumes, for the Buddhas of the ten directions proved their truth. In the same way, each character in the sutra equals two because it is possessed by Shakyamuni and Taho. Again, a single character equals innumerable others. Because the validity of the sutra was attested to by the Buddhas of the ten directions.

The treasures bestowed by a single wish-fulfilling jewel equal those bestowed by two such jewels or by innumerable jewels. Likewise, each character in the Lotus Sutra is like a single wish-granting jewel, and the innumerable characters of the sutra are like innumerable jewels.

The character Myo was uttered by two tongues: the tongues of Shakyamuni and Many Treasures. The tongues of these two Buddhas are like an eight-petaled lotus flower, one petal overlapping another, on which rests a jewel, the character of Myo.

The jewel of the character Myo contains all the merits that the Tathagata Shakyamuni received by practicing the six pāramitās in his past existences: the benefits he obtained through the practice of alms-giving by offering his body to a starving tigress and by giving his life in exchange for that of a dove; the merits, he obtained when he was King Shrutasoma who kept his word, though it meant his death, in order to observe the precepts; the benefits he obtained as an ascetic called Forbearance by enduring the tortures inflicted upon him by King Kāli; the benefits he obtained as Prince Zhose and as the ascetic Shōjari, and all his other benefits.

We, the people of this evil in the Latter Days of the Law, have not formed even a single good cause, but by bestowing upon us the jewel of Myo, Shakyamuni has granted us the same merits as if we ourselves had fulfilled all the practices of the six pāramitās. This precisely accords with his statement “Now this threefold world is all my domain, and the living beings in it are all my children.” Bound as we common mortals are by earthly desires, we can instantly attain the same virtues as Shakyamuni Buddha. Because we receive all the merits that he accumulated.

The sutra reads, “Making all persons equal to me without any difference between us.” This means that those who believe in and practice the Lotus Sutra are equal to Shakyamuni Buddha. To illustrate, a father and mother unite in conjugal harmony to give birth to a child. No one can dispute that the child's total body is the body of its parents. A calf be gotten by an ox king will become an ox king; it will never become a lion king. A child sired by a lion king will become a lion king; it will never become a human king or heavenly king. Now the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra are the children of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, as the sutra states, “The living beings in it are all my children.” Therefore, it is not difficult for them to become kings of the Law just as Shakyamuni Buddha did.

Unfilial children, however, are not allowed to succeed their parents. King Yao had an heir named Tan Shu, and King Shun had a prince named Sho Kin. As both sons were lacking in filial piety, they were disowned by their respective fathers and demoted to the rank of commoners. Chou-ka and Yu were the children of commoners, but both were earnest filial. Hearing of this, King Yao and King Shun summoned Chou-ka and Yu, and abdicated their thrones to them. Commoners became the emperor instantly. Just as a commoner can become an emperor in this present life, so can an ordinary person become a Buddha instantly. This is the heart of the doctrine that the three thousand realms are in a single moment of mind.

How, then, can we obtain this merit? Should we peel off our skins as the Gyo-bo did, follow the boy Snow Mountains’ example and offer our bodies to a demon, or emulate Bodhisattva Medicine King in burning our arms? As the Great Teacher Sho-an stated, “Must make wise decisions whether choice or discard and never adhere to one or the other.” The practice we should perform in order to master the correct teaching and attain Buddhahood depends upon the times.

If there were no paper in Japan, then you should peel your skin off. If the Lotus Sutra had not yet been introduced to Japan and a single demon were to appear who knew it, then you should offer your body to him. If there were no oil available in our country, then you should burn your elbows. But of what use is it to peel off our skin when the country has an abundant supply of heavy paper?

Genjo journeyed throughout India in search of the Buddha’s teachings for seventeen years, covering a distance of a hundred thousand miles. Although Teacher Dengyo remained in T’ang China for only two years, he traveled three thousand miles across the billowing sea to arrive there. These were all men, however, ancients, wise men, and the saints. Never have I heard of a woman who journeyed a thousand miles in search of Buddhism as you did. True, the dragon king’s daughter attained enlightenment without changing her present form, and the nun Makahajahadai received a prediction that she would become a Buddha in the future. I am not certain, but they may have been female forms assumed by Buddhas or bodhisattvas. After all, these events occurred in the Buddha’s lifetime.

The character of man and woman differs from the outset. Fire is hot and water, cold. Fishermen are skilled in catching fish, and hunters are proficient in trapping deer. A sutra states that women are clever at being jealous, but I have never heard that women are clever at Buddhism. A woman’s mind is compared to a refreshing breeze; even if one could bind the wind, it would be hard to grasp a woman’s mind. A woman’s mind is likened to writing on water because the characters do not remain on the surface. A woman is likened to a liar, for sometimes a liar’s word is true, and sometimes, false. A woman’s mind is compared to a river. Because all rivers bend.

The Lotus Sutra, however, contains such phrases as “honestly discarding expedient means,” “all that you [Shakyamuni] have expounded is the truth,” “honest and upright, gentle in intent,” and “gentle, peaceful, honest, and upright.” Those who believe in this sutra, therefore, have minds that are as straight as a taut bowstring or a carpenter’s inking line. One may call dung sandalwood, but it will not have the sandalwood fragrance. A liar never becomes a truthful person simply because one calls him honest. All the sutras are the Buddha’s golden teachings, his true words. When compared with the Lotus Sutra, however, they are false, flattering, abusive, or double-tongued. The Lotus Sutra alone is the truth of truths. Only honest people can keep faith in this sutra, a teaching free from all falsehood. Therefore, perhaps you are a woman who has the true words.

Think of it. Even if one were to meet a person who could cross the ocean carrying Mount Sumeru on his head, one could never find a woman like you. Even though one might find a person who could steam sand and make boiled rice out of it, one could never meet a woman like you. You should know that Shakyamuni Buddha, Taho Buddha, the Buddhas of the ten directions who are Shakyamuni’s emanations, great bodhisattvas such as Jogyo and Muhengyo, Bonten, Teishaku, the four heavenly kings, and other deities will protect you, just as a shadow accompanies the body. You are the foremost practitioner of the Lotus Sutra among the women of Japan. Therefore, following the example of Bodhisattva Fukyo, I bestow on you the Buddhist name Saint Nichimyō.

From Kamakura in Sagami Province to the northern province of Sado is a journey of more than a thousand miles over treacherous mountains and raging seas. There are sudden onslaughts of wind and rain, bandits lurk in the mountains, and pirates lie in wait on the sea. The people at every accommodation and every post town are as bestial as dogs or tigers, and you must have felt as though you were undergoing the sufferings of the three evil paths in this life.

Moreover, we live in turmoil now. Since last year rebels have filled our country, and finally, on the eleventh day of the second month of this year, a battle broke out. It is now almost the end of the fifth month, but the world has not yet been restored to peace and security. Nevertheless, despite all the risks involved, you traveled to Sado carrying your infant daughter, since her father, from whom you have long been separated, was not to be depended upon for her care.

Ah, I cannot imagine the hardships you must have suffered during your journey, much less describe them in words, so I will lay down my writing brush.

Nichiren

The twenty-fifth day of the fifth month, in the ninth year of Bun’ei (1272)

To Saint Nichimyō

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